www.johnmailander.com

NASHVILLE — John Mailander’s Forecast to independently release Little Wheel // Hope Looming on May 8. This 3-track EP includes a timely cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Little Wheel Spin And Spin,” an original instrumental, “Hope, Looming,” and a third short ambient instrumental sample piece. Forecast is a Nashville-based collective of visionary musicians led by John Mailander [pronounced my-lander], an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, performer, producer, composer, educator, and recording artist.

As a band, they traverse adventurous improvisations, singular collaborations, and genre-bending, joyful musical explorations. Forecast is Mailander on fiddle, piano, and electronics; Ethan Jodziewicz on upright and electric bass; Chris Lippincott on pedal steel guitar and Wurlitzer; Dean Miller on tenor saxophone; Mark Raudabaugh on drums and percussion; and Jake Stargel on acoustic guitar. This is their latest release since 2025’s full-length album, Let The World In. The EP was recorded live at Southern Ground Studio by Dan Davis on February 24 with assistance from Hank Bachara; mixed by Daniel Rice / Gravity Boots Recording; and mastered by Mike Monseur.

Featuring special guest Kristina Train on lead vocals, “Little Wheel Spin And Spin” was written by Buffy Sainte-Marie and first released in 1966. Mailander says, “The lyrics speak for themselves, but this is about the war machine and the heartbreaking cycles of history repeating. Unknowingly, we recorded this two days before the US entered war with Iran. It’s chilling to me how relevant these lyrics are today. I think our version, and Kristina’s delivery, of this message is felt with a renewed urgency, anger, and resistance, as we are still in these cycles 60 years after the song was first written. We turned it into a jam vehicle for group improvisation.”

“Hope, Looming” is an original instrumental, inspired by post-rock artists Mailander loves, namely Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Sigur Ros. He says, “I love the ‘in-between’ emotions these bands are able to convey, the way only music can express those grey areas. I’ve wanted to write something in this world for a long time to put through the Forecast lens, and this EP felt like the right incentive to finish the piece. The goal here was for a slow, dynamic building group piece that conveys a glimmer of hope on the horizon. In this way, to me, this is the B-side to the heaviness of ‘Little Wheel’ – light within the darkness and the hope for a peaceful future through our collective voices.”

Thematically tying the EP together, “(turnstile)” is an effected sample of a turnstile in a train station superimposed against a short synth improvisation around the harmony of “Little Wheel Spin And Spin.” It closes out the 13-minute and 18-second set on a somewhat unsettling yet hopeful note.

More About John Mailander:

Along with “conducting” the Forecast, Mailander is a member of Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers (on tour now throughout the states). His playing can be heard on albums by Billy Strings (including the Grammy-winning album Home), Noah Kahan, Dermot Kennedy, Sam Grisman Project, Joy Williams, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lucy Dacus, Molly Tuttle, Joe K. Walsh, Chatham County Line, and many more.

As a touring musician, John has worked closely with artists including Billy Strings, Mighty Poplar, Lindsay Lou, Sam Grisman, Peter Rowan, Keller Williams, Bella White, Sierra Hull, Tony Trischka, Jacob Jolliff, Ruth Moody, Maya De Vitry, Sam Burchfield, Lee Ann Womack, Rev. Jeff Mosier, and more. He played fiddle for the premier of Steve Martin & Edie Brickell’s musical, Bright Star, in New York. As a member of Bruce Hornsby’s Noisemakers, he has had opportunities to make music on stage with artists and musical heroes such as John Scofield, Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride, Sam Amidon, Amos Lee, and The Wood Brothers.

As an educator, John has been on staff at preeminent music camps, including the Swannannoa Gathering, Puget Sound Guitar Workshop, and Augusta Heritage Center Bluegrass Week. He teaches private lessons in-person and online. His first instructional book, A Fiddler’s Guide to Moveable Shapes, was published in Fall 2017. John is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.

John started playing at ten years old in San Diego in 2001, graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he attended from 2009 to ‘13, and has been a touring musician since around 2012. He released a solo progressive bluegrass album coming out of college in 2014, then moved to Nashville in 2015. He started working on the debut Forecast record in 2017 with new Nashville friends “as a way to explore new instrumentation and compositional themes that had always called to me in some ways more than bluegrass (inspired by film scores, Pat Metheny Group, Brian Blade Fellowship, Phish, etc.).”

John plays instruments by Jonathan Cooper, Russell McCumber, and Northfield Mandolins. He also highly recommends Earthquaker Devices, Chase Bliss Audio, Source Audio, Bartlett Fiddle Mics, and Alchemist Brewing.

Little Wheel // Hope Looming EP Track Listing 

1. Little Wheel Spin And Spin (ft. Kristina Train) (6:25) USLZJ2654728
2. Hope, Looming (5:58) USLZJ2654758
3. (turnstile) (0:55) USLZJ2654779

John Mailander – Fiddle, Piano on “Hope, Looming”, Samples and OP-1 Synthesizer on “(turnstile)”
Ethan Jodziewicz – Upright and Electric Basses
Chris Lippincott – Pedal Steel Guitar, Wurlitzer on “Hope, Looming”
Dean Miller – Tenor Saxophone
Mark Raudabaugh – Drums and Percussion
Jake Stargel – Acoustic Guitar
Kristina Train – Lead Vocal on “Little Wheel Spin And Spin”

Recorded live at Southern Ground Studio by Dan Davis on 2/24/26 with assistance from Hank Bachara
Mixed by Daniel Rice / Gravity Boots Recording. Mastered by Mike Monseur
John Mailander / Hoping Machine Music BMI
Cover art by Megan Lightell. Design by Madalyn Stefanak

Little Wheel // Hope Looming UPC 824296305676
John Mailander is currently on tour with Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers.
More Forecast dates this fall! → www.johnmailander.com/shows

For more information and updates, please visit www.johnmailander.com, www.facebook.com/johnmailandermusic, www.instagram.com/johnmailander.